Astronomy & Astrophysics

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 401, Number 2, April II 2003
Page(s)		557 - 563
Section		Stellar clusters and associations
DOI		10.1051/0004-6361:20030139

A&A 401, 557-563 (2003)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20030139

On the oxygen abundance in our Galaxy

L. S. Pilyugin¹, F. Ferrini² and R. V. Shkvarun¹

¹ Main Astronomical Observatory of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 27 Zabolotnogo str., 03680 Kiev, Ukraine
e-mail: shkvarun@mao.kiev.ua
² Department of Physics, Section of Astronomy, University of Pisa, piazza Torricelli 2, 56100 Pisa, Italy
e-mail: federico.ferrini@df.unipi.it

(Received 12 November 2002 / Accepted 9 January 2003 )

Abstract
The compilation of published spectra of Galactic H II regions with available diagnostic [OIII] $\lambda$ 4363 line information has been carried out. Our list contains 71 individual measurements of 13 H II regions in the range of galactocentric distances from 6.6 to 14.8 kpc. The oxygen abundances in all the H II regions were recomputed in the same way, using the classic $T_{\rm e}$ -method. The oxygen abundance at the solar galactocentric distance traced by those H II regions is in agreement with the oxygen abundance in the interstellar medium in the solar vicinity derived with high precision from the interstellar absorption lines towards stars. The derived radial oxygen abundance distribution was compared with that for H II regions from the Shaver et al. (1983) sample which is the basis of many models for the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. It was found that the original Shaver et al.'s oxygen abundances are overestimated by 0.2-0.3 dex. Oxygen abundances in H II regions from the Shaver et al. sample have been redetermined with the recently suggested P-method. The radial distribution of oxygen abundances from the Shaver et al. sample redetermined with the P-method is in agreement with our radial distribution of (O/H) $_{T_{\rm e}}$ abundances.

Key words: galaxies: abundances -- ISM: abundances -- ISM: general -- galaxies: individual: Milky Way Galaxy

Offprint request: L. S. Pilyugin, pilyugin@mao.kiev.ua

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